Political Clientelism in Nigerian Politics and the Paradigm Shift in the 2023 Oyo Gubernatorial Election

Abstract

Since it is in the nature of democracy and politics to seek power and control over the resources of the state, the political gladiators in Africa will use any means to secure victory and realize their selfish interests. Neoliberal scepticism about social solidarity, which views human action as motivated by self-interest and devoid of any moral basis, especially the problem of clintelism in politics, has often been examined by scholars. This is a challenge that both challenges Nigerian politics and makes African political elites uncompetitive in the global environment. Political clintelism almost forms a pattern of Nigerian political culture as it remains a ‘big picture’ in the country’s electoral process. This paper therefore examines the extent of this debate in the recent general elections in the light of the paradigm shift in the governorship elections in Oyo State. A qualitative research design was mainly used for the study, i.e. secondary data was collected from newspapers, journals, magazines, etc. and the contents were analyzed. The findings show that political clientelism is a bane of Nigeria’s development as it encourages the fielding of unpopular candidates who are unlikely to have the interest of the people at heart, which undermines the principle of freedom and fairness in an election. Therefore, it advocated coordinating efforts to persuade the populace through the work of civil society organizations while also bolstering government advocacy and democratic institutions of the state.